Our news
| 31/03/2011
NEWS RELEASE
It is our pleasure to announce that António Vitorino, former defence minister of Portugal and former European Commissioner, has been appointed President of Notre Europe. The appointment was made by Notre Europe's board of directors. Mr Vitorino will take up his post in June 2011.
We are also pleased to announce that Yves Bertoncini has been appointed Secretary General of Notre Europe. He took up his post in April 2011.
António Vitorino, born in 1957 in Lisbon, holds a degree in law from the University of Lisbon and a master's degree in political science. A lawyer by profession, he has taught at the University of Lisbon since 1982. Elected to parliament in 1980, he was Minister for Parliamentary Affairs in the government of Mario Soares (1983-85), then Deputy Secretary in the government of Macau (1986-87). He was a judge on Portugal's constitutional court (1989-94) before being elected MEP in 1994. In 1995 he became Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister of Portugal.
In 1999 António Vitorino was appointed European Commissioner for Justice and Internal Affairs, a post he occupied until 2004. As a representative of the European Commission he took part in both the convention which drew up the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Convention on the Future of Europe.
Since 2005 he has been president of the general assembly of the Santander Totta bank and an associate at the law firm Cuatrecasas, Gonçalves Pereira & Associados.
Notre Europe's previous presidents are its founder Jacques Delors (1996-2004), Pascal Lamy (2004-2005), and Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa (2005-2010), who passed away last December.
Yves Bertoncini, 41, is an administrator at the European Commission. He has been an advisor to the French Secretary General of European Affairs, responsible for reform of the SGAE as well as the policy areas “European Parliament, “French Presence and Influence” and “Prospective-Coordination”.
He was responsible for “Europe and the Lisbon Strategy” at the Centre d'Analyse Stratégique from 2006 to 2009 and for international affairs at the Fédération Française des Sociétés d'Assurance (FFSA) from 2002 to 2005. He has worked on two occasions at the French Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs, organising the “national dialogue for Europe” (1995-97) and on a posting at the French embassy in Algiers (1992-93).
Yves Bertoncini teaches European issues at IEP Paris and the Corps des Mines (Mines Paris Tech) and has taught at the École Nationale d'Administration (2007-09).
He has published numerous articles and works on European integration, in particular Europe: le temps des fils fondateurs (Michalon 2005), What is the impact of the EU interventions at the national level?(Notre Europe, 2009) and Politique européenne: États, pouvoirs et citoyens de l'UE (Sciences-Po and Dalloz, 2010).
Yves Bertoncini holds degrees from the Institut d'Études Politiques in Grenoble and the Collège d'Europe in Bruges and has studied at IEP Paris and the University of California in Berkeley.
Yves Bertoncini succeeds Gaëtane Ricard-Nihoul, Secretary General of Notre Europe since 2004, who has joined the Paris representation of the European Commission.
Articles by
Stéphanie Baz :
